The Palgrave Handbook of Relational Sociology

François Dépelteau is Professor of Sociology at Laurentian University, Canada. He is a specialist in sociological theory and relational sociology, and has published many books and articles in journals such as Sociological Theory and The International Review of Sociology.

This handbook on relational sociology covers a rapidly growing approach in the social sciences-one which is connected to the interests of a large, diverse pool of researchers across a range of disciplines. Relational sociology has been one of the key foundations of the "relational turn" in human sciences since the 1980s, and it offers a unique opportunity to redefine the basic epistemological and ontological principles of sociology as we know it. The contributors collected here aim to elucidate the complexity and the scope of this growing approach by dealing with three central questions: Where does relational sociology come from and what are its principal concerns? What are the main theoretical and methodological currents within relational sociology? What have we studied in relational sociology and what are the results?

Presents cutting-edge research in the understudied discipline of relational sociology

Introduction: The Promise of the Relational Turn in Sociology
Part I: General Presentation of Relational Sociology
1. Relational Thinking in Sociology: Relevance, Concurrence and Dissonance2. The Relation as Magical Operator: Overcoming the Divide between Relational and Processual Sociology

Part II: Approaches and Theories Associated with Relational Sociology: Pragmatism, Interactions, and Assemblages
3. Sociology of Infinitesimal Difference: Gabriel's Tarde Heritage4. Pluralism and Relationism in Social Theory: Lessons from the Tarde/Durkheim Debate5. G.H. Mead and Relational Sociology: The Case of Concepts6. Pragmatist Methodological Relationalism in Sociological Understanding of Evolving Human Culture7. Gilles Deleuze and Relational Sociology8. Triangular Relations: Michel Serres on Parasites, Angels, Quasi-objects, and the Virtual9. Bruno Latour and Relational Sociology

Part III: Social Forms, System Theories, and Network Analysis
10. Georg Simmel and Relational Sociology11. Georg Simmel's Concepts of Forms of Sociation as an Analytical Tool for Relational Sociology12. Switchings among Netdoms: The Relational Sociology of Harrison White13. Relationalism and Social Networks14. Is Niklas Luhmann a Relational Sociologist?

Part IV: Power Relations, Inequalities, and Conflicts
15. Charles Tilly and Relational Sociology16. Michael Mann and Relational Sociology17. Pierre Bourdieu and Relational Sociology18. Relational Sociology and Postcolonial Theory: Sketches of a 'Postcolonial Relationism'19. 'To Understand the Shore, it is not Enough... to Pick up an Empty Shell...': Feminist Epistemologies, Ecological Thinking, and Relational Ontologies


Part V: Current Approaches in Relational Sociology
20. Beyond the Manifesto: Mustafa Emirbayer and Relational Sociology21. Critical Realism as Relational Sociology22. An Original Relational Sociology Grounded in Critical Realism23. Deconstructing and Reconstructing Social Networks24. Networks, Interactions and Relations25. From the Concept of 'Trans-action' to a Process-Relational Sociology

Part VI: Specific Issues and Concepts in Relational Sociology
26. Relational Agency27. Power and Relational Sociology28. Relational Radicalization29. The Relational Meaning-Making of Riots: Narrative Logic and Network Performance of the London 'Riots'30. Music Sociology and Relational Perspective31. Relational Sociology: Contributions to Understanding Residential Decision-Making in Later Life32. Relations, Organizing, Leadership and Education33. Marcel Mauss, the Gift and Relational Sociology